The Astros are designating right-hander J.P. France for assignment, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. That’ll open a 40-man roster spot to finalize their acquisition of righty Kai-Wei Teng from San Francisco.
A 14th-round senior draftee who signed for $1,000 as an amateur, France overcame significant odds to reach the majors at all. Injuries pushed him into a more prominent role than anticipated as a 28-year-old rookie three years ago. France stepped up with a 3.83 earned run average across 136 1/3 innings. He started 23 of 24 appearances and was included on Houston’s playoff rosters.
Unfortunately, France hasn’t been able to contribute much over the past two seasons. He battled a shoulder injury during Spring Training 2024. France pitched through it but was hit around in five starts and optioned to Triple-A. He suffered a setback while pitching in the minors and underwent surgery in June that came with a recovery time longer than a full calendar year. He remained on the injured list until last August.
France made it back to the mound at the end of the season. He was tagged for 17 earned runs across 24 innings in Triple-A. The Astros called him up in September as a low-leverage reliever. He tossed a scoreless inning in mop-up work on September 14. His only other appearance consisted of three innings of one-run ball to pick up a win once the Astros were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
The Astros have five days to trade the 30-year-old France or expose him to waivers. He has a little over two years of big league service and one minor league option remaining. If the Astros get him through waivers unclaimed, they’ll be able to keep him in the organization as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Welcome to Denver, France
Colorado. Denver is in Colorado….public school?
Toulouse is in France.
Hope he accepts the assignment, looked good two year ago before getting hurt. Competition may be hard to crack at starter but lots of chances at long man and low leverage reliever.
Not how it works. He’s unlikely to have any choice. The Astros get a few days to trade him (which honestly seems likely, as he’s definitely a major league pitcher of sorts). Then if they don’t he goes on waivers and will almost certainly be claimed by someone.
Yeah he will be claimed. My only concern is that the Astros need pitching and they DFA France who is serviceable at the very least. He’s probably going to be out for sometime. Either until All Star break or even beyond that.
Is he injured?
He was. He recovered from shoulder surgery and sucked in AAA. Hopefully we can get him through waivers. In 2023, I think they sold fake mustaches in the team store, or maybe the fans brought them. If another person that’s been to Astros team store lots at that time pls tell me.
I am guessing he is out of options.
Seems like a better player than Teng but Teng must still have options.
He sucked, is out of options, and his time is over. Liked your 2023, but nothing is left in your tank, let’s trade him for international bonus money. Anyone?
He has 1 option year left.
Okay. He has 1, I just remembered he wasn’t optioned in 2023. However, he still sucks.
I thought he was out of options too, apparently he has one left. But yeah, severely outperformed his metrics in 2023, bum shoulder, and was at highest 10th on our starting pitching depth. His time was up.
Padres